Clemson basketball coach Brad Brownell and senior guard Gabe DeVoe discuss how the team's been able to win close games this season.

Marcel Louis-Jacques/Orange and White

Only one league sent a team to the Final Four in each of the previous three seasons. It is the same league that has amassed 612 NCAA Tournament victories.

The same league that has compiled 30 consecutive seasons with at least a .500 record in the postseason. The same league that produced 10 first-round selections in the 2017 National Basketball Association draft.

On the membership roll, the Atlantic Coast Conference may look a lot different than it did 30, 20 or even 10 years ago. But it is still viewed the same way — as the strongest, deepest conference in college basketball. Its recent record of success fortifies that stance.

Through the previous three seasons, ACC teams won 47 NCAA Tournament games. No other league recorded more than 28. During that same span, the ACC sent 12 teams to the Sweet Sixteen, four more than any other conference.

An ACC team won eight of the previous 17 national championships. No other league claimed more than three.

However, six of those championships were collected by merely two teams — Duke and North Carolina. Those rivals account for 11 of the 17 national titles current ACC members claim.

Duke's Wendell Carter Jr. dunks against the win over Pittsburgh.

Duke's Wendell Carter Jr. dunks against the win over Pittsburgh.

Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports

Duke and North Carolina are the standard in victories, conference titles, tournament appearances, NBA draft picks and brand names. They are imperious powers who can pluck prospects by simply flashing their logos.

They are expected to win 25 games in the regular season, advance to the final day of the conference tournament and secure a favorable seeding in the national bracket.

Every year.

The ACC’s championship lineage runs through Tobacco Road, but this season, it will travel to one of its other territories. Duke and North Carolina may continue to carry the conference flag in March and April, but in January and February, parity propels the league.

Virginia Cavaliers center Jack Salt (33) and Cavaliers guard Devon Hall (0) react o the court against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the first half at John Paul Jones Arena.

Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports

Virginia has resurged under Tony Bennett and his signature dogged defense. Restoration projects are also underway at North Carolina State and Wake Forest.

Florida State and Miami have recently enjoyed cycles of brilliance, each sealing their first conference titles.

Louisville, Notre Dame and Syracuse joined the league within the last five years. They added three more national brands and three more significantly different playing styles.

Although they may not appear on any bracketology reports, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh are not pushovers.

And in this corner of the ACC’s sprawling kingdom, further away from the dynasties who stockpile five-star recruits, Clemson has gradually developed a squad talented and experienced enough to contend.

Clemson is one of seven schools that left the Southern Conference in May of 1953 to form the ACC. Virginia joined later that year. Clemson is the only one of those original eight schools that has not won an ACC Tournament title.

North Carolina has won 31 regular-season ACC championships. Duke has 19. Clemson has one. However, the Tigers are positioned to capture a second.

At this point, no team has a clean claim on the crown. The traditional powers are not invincible. Duke has fallen to Boston College and N.C. State. North Carolina dropped a nonconference clash with Wofford.

Conversely, Clemson coach Brad Brownell has assembled the most talented team over his eight-year tenure. Clemson opened with a 14-1 overall record, won its first three ACC games and climbed to No. 17 in the coaches poll.

N.C. State snapped Clemson’s streak Thursday night with a 78-77 victory in Raleigh. It can only be classified as an upset if one ascribes too much merit to those poll rankings. N.C. State did not have a little number beside its name, but anyone who has followed this league for years realizes, in conference play, rankings are irrelevant.

Clemson's Gabe DeVoe (10) reacts after missing a free-throw in the closing moments as North ...more

Clemson's Gabe DeVoe (10) reacts after missing a free-throw in the closing moments as North Carolina State's Allerik Freeman (12) celebrates during an NCAA college basketball game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018.

Gerry Broome, AP

The ACC combines college basketball aristocracy with prideful upstarts. It pits legends like Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and Jim Boeheim against coaches like Brownell, Buzz Williams and Josh Pastner who are still forging their legacies.

Variety enhances the entertainment value. It is part of the pageantry of college basketball. An ACC team could host an exclusively man-to-man foe Wednesday and visit an exclusively zone opponent Saturday. Each team employs a different approach, with the same desired destination — the championship podium.

As these teams wrestle for position in the standings, every point, every shot, every dribble, every pass, every decision, every game matters. There will be buzzer beaters, overtime thrillers and loose ball floor dives. All before February.